OAK BLUFFS – Ronald Slaughter sauntered down Lake Avenue on a sun-drenched afternoon at the harbor, looking cool and relaxed.

The longtime professor, who teaches political science at Alabama A&M University, was thinking about boating and people-watching instead of the coming start of school, which for him can be one of the most stressful times of the year.

He detached his mind from his work responsibilities first by shutting down his cellphone.

“I don't go into the email, don't answer the phone,” Slaughter said. “On a limited basis you might say, 'Hey, I'm going to check it once a week,' but if you start checking it every day then there's no point in being on vacation.”

Like President Obama, there are plenty of people vacationing on Martha's Vineyard who have to balance stress from work while carving out leisure time. The president could probably list dozens of global and domestic issues -- from the violence in Iraq to the tensions in Ferguson, Missouri -- that could distract him from his downtime.

But whether it's presidential stress, or average-person stress, experts and vacationers say there are ways to manage work duties and make “me” time.

Slaughter prepared for his vacation ahead of time by delegating work responsibilities to others.

“I have my administrative assistants and other professors that I assign certain responsibilities and I say don't call me unless there's a major crisis,” he said.

Dr. Dominic Maxwell, a psychiatrist and medical director at the Martha's Vineyard Community Services/Island Counseling Center, said that was sound planning.

“I think it comes down to setting good boundaries and enforcing them. Setting things up ahead of time so that you're going to be really clear when you're available and when you're not,” Maxwell said.

Some people have trouble letting go of work, so Maxwell suggests enlisting a friend, spouse or co-worker to help set up workload limits during vacations.

Although the president can't turn off his cellphone or tune out world affairs, he, too, can try to to carve out periods of time away from the job, albeit in shorter chunks than most people.

“The sense I get is that he makes family a very high priority,” Maxwell said. “That's probably both a personal choice but also a very intelligent psychological choice because for him, that's the place where he can unwind and decompress and just have some fun.”

Maxwell added that just taking five minutes whenever possible to walk outside, breathe the air and look at the trees can do wonders for a stress-crushed mind.

Lynn Sivadd, of Brooklyn, said she used to work during vacation and have her finger on the laptop until 5 p.m.

Not this year.

“This is the first time after seven, maybe eight years on the island that I didn't have to work while I was here,” she said while walking down Circuit Avenue in Oak Bluffs. It has taken years for the human resources professional to train herself to “disconnect” from the world on vacation, but she feels it's well worth it.

“Not allowing your body and mind to relax and renew I think makes it so that you're not as creative and innovative because you can only be on for so many hours a day,” Sivadd said. “You need to just shut down and restart again.”

Staff writer Eric Williams contributed to this report. Follow us on Twitter: @capecast.